Outcasts In Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is an incredible novel that is as popular as it has ever been, despite being written in the 1700´s. One of the main reason for its notoriety is how well Mary Shelley was able to develop the main characters in the story. The story focuses around Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, who are uniquely presented as to leave it up to the reader to decide who the good guy in the story is, and who is the villain. Each conducted many actions that were beyond reason and unjustifiable, but also had instances where they appeared to be the victim or were trying to better the lives of others. I do believe though, that the creature had more justifiable actions throughout the entirety of the story. The Creature was the result of Victorś insane desires, was left abandoned and forced to go through the world without any knowledge, and whose mind was poisoned by the humans he interacted with.

Most characters within Frankenstein have a sense of full conformity, while a select few feel full disregard. Victor Frankenstein has the best-and the worst-of both worlds as he possesses outward beauty and conformity while having inward regrets and questioning. Frankenstein had many benefactors that had contributed towards his outward acceptance; on the other hand, he had his inner demons that had placed him in a position of questioned deposition. Victor Frankenstein, truly, is a piece of the puzzle with regards towards the entire understanding of his society and its other human inhabitants. The theme of outward appearance and inward regret drives the character of Frankenstein to home base with obvious examples, implicit reading, and a full-circle

Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley, tells the story of a bright and ambitious scientist that wishes to discover the secrets of life. After several years of research, he achieves his goal and brings to life a creature fashioned from old body parts. Horrified by his creation, Victor flees and spends the rest of his life hiding from and witnessing horrendous acts by the creature he so desperately wanted to create.

“Frankenstein ostracizes himself over his guilt for creating a creature that causes death and destruction: ‘Solitude was my only consolation—deep, dark, death-like solitude’”(Watkin). Since he left the creature in isolation, many of his loved ones were murdered. Eventually this left him to feeling exactly how the creature had to live, alone and isolated. “Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted creature, dare I ask thee to pardon me? I who destroyed thee by destroying those thou lovedst" (Shelley 241). After Frankenstein dies, the creature says “'The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet he, even he, man's enemy, had friends and associates; I am quite alone" (Shelley 243). The Creature considered Victor to be evil for bringing him into such a hateful world, and leaving for him to be isolated. The creature could not understand how someone so evil could have friends and people to talk to while he was all alone and much nicer than him. Solitude might be a desirable thing for Frankenstein but a misery for the creature. They both displayed different reactions to being isolated. Frankenstein would isolate himself and respond to it i more of an anxious way. He was nervous to see when the creature would pop up. The creature on the other hand did not want to be isolated, but forcefully was. Due to this he displayed acts of aggression and rage leading to the

Every story has its hero and villain. Some authors’ works easily clarify the debate between which character is the ultimate protagonist or the antagonist, but sometimes the author tries to toy with readers’ minds. Similarly, Frankenstein’s author, Marry Shelley is one of the authors who is not straightforward about who is the villain in her novel. In Frankenstein, both the Monster and Victor Frankenstein could be considered the villains in the book. Doctor Victor Frankenstein is an alchemist who is obsessed with creating life from the dead. He creates the green creature, also given the name Frankenstein, who is portrayed as the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein’s complete disregard for mortal beings, obsession with becoming a God, and his self-centeredness throughout the novel are all good evidence to why he – Dr. Victor Frankenstein plays the role of the villain in the story.

Frankenstein is to be “sometimes considered one of the first science fiction novels” (Fox,stacy ”Romantic and Gothic Representation in Frankenstein”). Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley. In this novel the main characters where Victor Frankenstein, his creation the monster, Robert Walton, Elizabeth Lavenza, Alphonse Frankenstein, and Henry Clerval. Frankenstein starts out with a normal boy named Victor Frankenstein who discovers an early interest in science. Victor later goes off to college to study science and ends up creating a monster. Throughout the novel the monster is stereotyped by his looks and is traumatized and goes for revenge against his creator when Victor refuses to make him a

Perhaps the most important takeaway from Frankenstein is the causes of the evil actions of the characters, specifically Dr. Frankenstein and his creature. When isolated or rejected, each character resorts to violence and acts of ill-intention. Isolation and rejection are painful states of being, and even sub-human creations react to them poorly. Victor Frankenstein frequently projects his feelings as a result of the isolation he feels in quotes such as this: “…the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my devotion; but the furies possessed me as I concluded, and rage choked my utterance.” (Shelley 218). He explains that his mind shifts to thought of evil when he ponders how he lost his friends and family, proving Shelley’s opinion on the harms of isolation. Victors creature falls victim to violence in response to isolation as well. Following William’s rejection of the monster, declaring him a “…monster! Ugly wretch!” and an “ogre,” the monster strangles him (150). Both Victor and his creation experience moments

For years, people have thought of Frankenstein as the monster, though the idea could be easily understood, Frankenstein is truly the doctor. The cunning mind behind Dr. Frankenstein and his gruesome monster is an author known by the name of Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley faced many despair filled moments throughout her life, events including, miscarriages, suicides, and affairs. These events marked the beginning of Frankenstein and with it a new era of writing.

The “Frankenstein” society only upholds and esteem those who are of “high and unsullied descent united with riches” (Shelley 386), these privileges commanding reverence and respect. Here, Shelley articulates a distinct class hierarchy prevalent within society, wherein disadvantaged figures like the creature, who does not possess sufficient wealth or honourable descend, will be condescendingly dismissed or even loathed upon. The creature who is perpetually the less powerful (given that it has neither family nor riches) will forever remain “a blot upon the earth” (Shelley 386), the stain as an analogy which reiterates its unwanted and undesirable position. Further accentuating such class inequalities is the juxtaposition of the monster’s status with that of Victor and his family. Termed a “savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island” (Shelley 280), the monster is alluded to be a wild and obscure figure whose acute lack of stable power and identity shapes it into a strange and terrifying Other dwelling within an incomprehensible realm, a manifestation “representing the dispossessed” (Vlasopolos 130). In contrast, Victor’s family, who originates from the aristocratic upper class, belongs within society and is highly-regarded. The superiority enjoyed by their status is exemplified from how they are already well-established as a family whose ancestors “had been for many years counsellors and syndics” (Shelley 289), their father gloriously securing much “honour and reputation” (Shelley 289) in numerous public domains. The creature who is part of the inferior class is comparatively neglected and remains the outcast, relegated to the isolated sphere of the Other. The collective contempt demonstrated towards the creature builds and affirms its distinct status as the Other, whose victimisation then works to expose class inequalities hidden behind the façade of

Victor Frankenstein, engulfed in the obsession of creating life out of death, resurrects a body composed of multiple parts from different origins. Victor “had worked for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this [he] had deprived [him]self of rest and health;” this madness is Victor’s desire to become a creator that people envied (Shelley 57). Victor creates a monster, one that is the “outcome or product of curiosity … pushed to an extreme” (Brooks 387). Resembling an infant perceiving its surroundings through its parents, the monster’s entire perception of the world is centered around Victor Frankenstein due to . The monster tries learning about his creator

Victor’s creation was another character in this story that experienced alienation and isolation. The monster was subjected to alienation his entire life. Unlike his creator, the monster did not choose this life of segregation, he was born into it. It seemed as if from the very first moment that Victor had laid eyes upon his creation he was viewed as being an abomination, and condemned to a life of rejection. The first experience that the monster had in life was upon opening his eyes and seeing the look of terror in his creator’s eyes. After Victor had abandoned his creation the creature is left with only questions and no one to answer them.

Personal tragedies and the way people are raised from the beginning effect what kind of person they become. Frankenstein is a gothic fiction tragedy written by Mary Shelley in 1818. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who dedicated his life to creating a new species. Victor does achieve this dream of his. However, Victor creates what he thinks is an evil monster. The monster is the most evolved character because he develops humanlike emotions, gains valuable knowledge, and revengeful to those around him.

Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.

Frankenstein removes himself from friends, family and society in order to absolve himself from responsibility of morals. Through efforts to maintain control and an acute fascination, Frankenstein alienates himself at an early age in the name of science. Victor is not entirely ignorant of the dangers of his self-satisfying obsession as he first regrettably reflects, “I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favorite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge” (Shelley 28). Rather than recognizing that his isolation is self-induced, Victor blames his alienation on his father’s ignorance. By controlling his relationships, he gains greater confidence in his own abilities, instead of relying on others’ companionship. Notably, evidence for Victor’s disregard toward “domestic affection” is reintroduced as he remarks, “I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed. Once commenced, it would quickly be achieved, and I might be restored to my family in peace and happiness” (Shelley 138). With selfishness at the core, Victor controls his chaos by distancing himself temporarily, so that he might reunite with his family at a later date. He is being inundated by the common belief that glorious scientific achievement comes at the cost of moral and ethical sacrifice. Victor justifies his self-alienation by means of the creature; however readers

Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is about a man who had a strong urge to finish a scientific project and did not accept his consequences for his own mistakes. Mary Shelley’s work consists of Gothic elements and have great emotion that go along with them. Mary Shelley’s childhood may have affected her writing, she had a tough life growing up and her book shows this. Throughout the novel there are many Gothic elements that all contribute to the events in the book. Victor neglecting his own responsibility and disrupting the natural order of things ultimately leads to the death of the two major characters in the end of the novel.